ELIZABETH ZIMMERMAN'S BABY SURPRISE JACKET

     EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket is no mindless knitting project. You need to be attentive to every stitch, stitch by stitch.

    I decided to make a BSJ for a new cousin, due in March. A girl. Chose a medium and a dark pink yarn. I've made BSJs before, but it is a complicated pattern. Had a hard time getting the count right in the first few rows. Had to start over multiple times. Have to count every row. Sometimes more than twice. Maybe thrice. Maybe . . . 

    Once started, blessedly, knitting went rather smoothly, even switched colors to create the stripe effect.

    Until this afternoon. Let my mind wander. Thought about something else. Forgot which row I was on. Now I will have to wait for daylight tomorrow. Do some unknitting, which always takes more than twice/thrice the time to knit the rows in the first place.

    Glad the baby not due until March. Will that give me enough time?

SPEAKING OF THIMBLES

     Speaking of fumbles thimbles, I've worn a painful callous on the tip of my middle finger, right hand. With the yarn coming in from, the left hand, sometimes I use the middle finger on my right hand to push the stitch along. The tighter the knitting the more the pressure to get the stitch from the left needle to the right.

    I experimented with using a thimble to protect my finger. That worked okay, sort of, but the thimble slipped too easily off my finger, and was hard to keep track of. Reluctant to get out of my upstairs recliner, I peered around and fixed my gaze on a small piece of elastic bandaging I had used, in vain, to get rid of a corn on a toe. I had paid a ridiculous prize for such a small piece of nothing, and I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. What would happen if I put it on my finger?

    Success! Works amazingly well. Protects my finger. Being elastic it stays on my finger. So glad this inspiration occurred to me. No more fumbling around.

COPYRIGHT? TRADEMARK?

     How to claim ownership of a pattern? I wish I knew.

    Both Ramona at Momo's in Leavenworth and Cindy -- not Mindy, as I often call her -- at The Studio in Overland Park were kind enough to talk to me, but to my great surprise, because both are very innovative knitters, neither one has sought protection for knitted pieces they created.

    I 'discovered' how to make a chameleon scarf -- one color dominates one side, the second color dominates the other side -- quite by accident. And except for the cast-on, it's incredibly easy to make because every stitch is a knit stitch. Absolutely no purl stitches.

    The pattern is on this blog somewhere, over to the right. I used to know how to post pictures on my blog. Maybe I'll take a half-day and figure out how to do it again.

A BETTER NEEDLE

    This bamboo circular needle is definitely a better needle.

    I ordered a 16", No. 6 Takumi Clover needle from Yarn Barn in Lawrence. Bamboo, which means the color will be a neutral ecru. The pale color will be a very helpful contrast to darker yarns. It's difficult to distinguish the stitches if the yarn and the needle are a close match.

    The needle points are the sharpest I've ever seen in a non-metal needle, which really seems to speed up the whole process. Something unexpected was the swivel cord. The cord and the stiff needles connect very smoothly, and the cord swivels at that joint.

    These may become my favorite needle.

KITH 2026

     Planning is already well underway for KITH (Knitting in the Heartland). Sunflowers Knitters Association (formerly Guild) is close to announcing the place and the dates (quite likely in late April).

    And the keynote knitters. We always have spectacular knitters to lead the workshops. Plus, there are many opportunities just to sit, and knit, and chat with other knitters. Food and drink in the hospitality room.

    If you don't go home inspired with a half-dozen new projects that you want to make, you haven't been paying attention.

BLACK, DARK YARN

     As knitters get older, they gradually quit knitting with black yarns, or yarns in darker colors. At some point dark yarns require full sunlight.

    But trying to knit up some of my stash has led me to a different conclusion. Dark yarns are best worked on light colored needles, which provide a good contrast. If I didn't have enough of one color of yarn for a complete cap, I've combined two colors. Begin the brim with one color for about three inches, then start the second color and alternate rows until reaching the end of the first color. Continue with the second color continuously to finish the top of the cap. Of course by then I have to resort to the dreaded double points, but I'm gradually becoming more adept.

    The current project is a combination of brown and an almost-black grey. Not making rapid progress. Several rows later I discovered a strange hole. Spent the entire afternoon unknitting, a tedious, unrewarding activity. Brown and subtle almost-black is making a very striking combination and the cap will be a stunning piece of headwear -- if I can ever finish the unknitting back to the problem, and begin making forward progress again.

STOPPED FOR / BY TRAFFIC

     There are two main railroad lines that run through Olathe. Whenever I am running errands, I can be delayed by a lonnnnngggggg train on either line. Not to mention intersections where I might be forced to wait for the light to change.

    It never fails. If I take some knitting with me, or something to read, I will breeze through, encountering no obstacles. If I get in the car empty-handed, I will be stopped by trains of 100-plus cars, or the five-mile-an-hour crossover train, or a traffic light that has been set to never-change. Thumb-twiddling produces nothing.

    And, oh, almost finished a pair of grey wristlets -- have only a half-inch to go on the second one. Put aside for a few days until I can get to the yarn store to buy another skein. Started another pair of wristlets of green worsted dug out of my stash. Worsted. If you heard that word and knew nothing about knitting, you'd think it was the worst thing possible.

YOU NEED A RED HAT?

     I've got plenty.

    One of my writing colleagues in this semester's KCWG (Kansas City Writers Group) said he couldn't do something because he didn't have a red (beanie) hat like one of the other writers. To tell the truth, I didn't hear what it was he couldn't do.

    But our co-director, Mary-Lane, knowing that I am also a knitter, asked me to knit a red hat for my colleague.

    That's all I needed. I took off. Not having the pattern for the beanie I knit several red hats which I now have available to offer. (I have never actually met this colleague, so it's going to take some logistics to get together in person.)

    People who know me well know that knitting helps me get my writing done. (They also know that sometimes I get more knitting than writing finished. I'm still working on my essay of Catching Frogs by Flashlight.)

WAITED SIX YEARS

    We knitters waited six years for KITH (Knitting in the Heartland). KITH 2020 was canceled because of the Coronavirus, KITH 2022 was never planned because the Coronavirus became a Pandemic. KITH 2024 was fabulous. We had Stephanie Pearl McPhee as the keynote knitter, plus several other master knitters teaching workshops. And the vendor's market -- it was marvelous. Local and not so local yarn and yarn accessory producers provided dazzling yarns and products. You weren't there, but now you are curious? Well, KITH 2026 is only two years away. It'll be worth the wait.